End-to-end encryption
ECDH P-256 for key exchange, HKDF-SHA256 for derivation, AES-256-GCM for messages. The server only ever sees encrypted bytes.
v0.9 beta · Android · privacy by default
A messenger for those who value
digital freedom.
NORA → Node-based Onion Routing Architecture
No phone. No e-mail. No servers that "know" you. Just end-to-end encryption, your key, and a peer network that no one can switch off.
Everything to keep the conversation strictly between you.
Cryptography, network and interface — built on a single principle: "trust math, not the server".
No phone numbers, no e-mail
Sign-up is an Ethereum wallet (BIP39 12 words). Only you know the seed phrase. The username is just a label and you can change it.
Mesh node network
Nodes talk over a gossip protocol. Take one server down — the conversation never stops, the client migrates to the next one.
Censorship bypass
A REALITY tunnel disguises traffic as ordinary TLS to large sites. By SNI and shape it's indistinguishable from Microsoft.
On-chain discovery
The list of working nodes is published in a smart contract on Base. Nobody can "switch off" the directory — there isn't one.
Safety numbers
12 SHA-256 groups for offline key verification. If there's a MITM on the other side, you'll see it without any blue checkmark.
Voice and video
WebRTC over ICE and our own TURN. If P2P fails — relay through your own nodes, no Google clouds.
Built-in wallet
The wallet lives inside the client. View ETH/USDC balances, send, receive — without leaving the app. One and the same key.
Hardware-backed keys (StrongBox)
On Pixel 3+, Samsung S20+ (Knox Vault), OnePlus 8+, Xiaomi Mi 11+ and other StrongBox devices, NORA's master key lives inside a dedicated security chip. The key never leaves silicon — even root-level malware can't extract it.
Security
Protection you can verify without trusting us.
Every layer can be checked independently: verifiable signatures on the client, a transparent node protocol, contracts on a public network. Everything we say about NORA can be checked by hand.
- The key stays with you. The seed never leaves the device. We can't "recover the account" — and that's a feature.
- Pinned TLS. SPKI pin on the client: a forged certificate won't pass even from a valid CA.
- Forward secrecy. Ephemeral keys per session: even compromise of a long-term key doesn't open past conversations.
- Anti-Sybil. Nodes pay stake into a smart contract — mass-spawning fakes is expensive and visible to everyone.
- FLAG_SECURE on seed. Screenshots of the seed phrase are blocked at the OS level.
Threat model
| Reading the conversation server-side | impossible |
| Substituting the peer's key | visible in UI |
| Selective SNI blocking | REALITY bypass |
| Seizing the "main" server | there isn't one |
| Disabling the node directory | on-chain |
| Full Internet shutdown | won't protect |
+3W9uil6TJuXORhAFhVU6hrSIUQsN+l6dDMrXRXYheY=
Our node's SPKI pin
Five transport layers. One of them always works.
The client picks its own route and quickly degrades to the next one if the channel is noisy or blocked.
01
P2P · WebRTC
Direct connection via ICE/STUN if NAT allows. Fastest, most private.
low latency
02
Onion mesh
Layered encryption through 3 random nodes. None knows both ends of the conversation at once.
privacy
03
QUIC · Hysteria2
UDP/443, disguised as plain QUIC. Often gets through where TCP is already shaped.
DPI-resistant
04
REALITY TLS
Steal-handshake to a real domain (microsoft.com etc.). On the wire it looks like legitimate TLS.
stealth
05
Direct WSS
A plain WebSocket-over-TLS to a node. The base channel when nothing needs to be circumvented.
baseline
A network that can't be turned off — because you own it.
NORA is not "an app and a server". It is Node-based Onion Routing Architecture: dozens of independent nodes raised by the community, with onion routing on top. The more people, the stronger the network.
Anonymity
No phone numbers, no e-mail, no "central" confirmation. The account is a key that stays on the device. The onion route splits "who" from "where to": no single node knows both ends of a conversation.
Reliability
Each node is signed with its own ECDSA key and publishes a stake in the smart contract on Base. A fake node costs money and is visible to the whole world — mass-spawning fakes makes no economic sense.
Fault tolerance
Take one node down — the client migrates to the next one in 200 ms. Take ten down — nobody notices. There's no "main server" to take down: the directory lives in the blockchain.
01
Spin up a node in one tap
The app has a "become a TURN node" toggle. If you have stable Internet and a desire to help, your phone or tablet starts taking relay traffic for other users' calls. No setup, all in the background.
- Toggled on / off with one button
- Runs only on Wi-Fi while charging (default)
- Traffic is encrypted — your node sees no content
02
Run a full server
Have a VPS? Install the NORA server software — it's open source, installs with one command, and works with the Base blockchain. After registering in the smart contract, your node automatically appears in every client's directory worldwide.
- Linux · 1 CPU · 1 GB RAM — minimum
- Registration: 0.01 ETH stake in the Base contract
- Heartbeat 2–3 times a day, ~$0.5/year in gas
Why deanonymization is practically impossible
No phone number — no link to a SIM and a carrier. No e-mail — no link to Google/Apple. No "main server" that could hand over logs: records about you are spread across dozens of independent nodes, and the messages themselves are end-to-end encrypted. Your identity isn't given away even by the messenger itself: it doesn't know it.
Wallet
Base
The network is built for mass usage: average fee is fractions of a cent, transfers arrive in 2 seconds.
Payments right inside the conversation.
Every copy of NORA has a full crypto wallet built in. The same key you use to sign in to the messenger holds your balance — without separate apps, without leaving for a browser, without ever handing the seed phrase to anyone.
-
ETH and USDC out of the box Balances are visible right away and update in real time. Network — Base (low fees, instant confirmations).
-
Send to a peer in one tap Send ETH/USDC straight from a chat — the address is already known, nothing to copy.
-
Receive without an app A QR code and a link to your address — the sender can be on any other wallet, signing into NORA isn't required.
-
The key never leaves the device Transactions are signed locally in Keystore. NORA sees neither the private key nor the payments themselves: you alone control the funds.
Base
The network is built for mass usage: average fee is fractions of a cent, transfers arrive in 2 seconds.
How it works
Three steps — and the conversation lives without intermediaries.
No SMS confirmations, no profile registration "in the centre". Keys appear on the device and never leave it.
-
01
Create a wallet
The app generates 12 BIP39 words, shows the secret, asks you to confirm — and forgets the plaintext. It's stored only encrypted in Keystore.
-
02
Sign the binding message
The wallet key is bound to a separate messaging key via personal_sign. It proves: the one who sends messages is the same one who owns the address.
-
03
Connect to the nearest node
The client pulls the directory from the contract on Base, picks a live node, and brings up an E2E session. From that second on, the server is no obstacle to encryption.
Ready to try it?
A public Android beta is available now. iOS is in the works.
downloads
Verify your download
We can't ask you to trust the download. Check it yourself — these never lie:
1 · APK checksum (SHA-256)
Confirms the file arrived intact and untampered. Compare it with nora.apk.sha256.
d6eb929baa5c2e26fe92bb9e15ba681231bedeba9d6a5477c5b2eb2c030cfdcb
sha256sum nora.apk
2 · Signing certificate (SHA-256)
This is the strongest anchor: it stays the same across every future update. If an APK shows a different fingerprint, it is not from us — do not install it.
08:25:F9:EE:9A:48:0D:09:0D:F4:22:DF:7C:F4:8F:B6:C0:2F:F5:27:80:AC:06:D6:89:8F:BE:18:A3:D7:75:1A
apksigner verify --print-certs nora.apk
Common questions
Is it really without a phone number?
Yes. The account is your Ethereum address. No SMS, no link to a SIM. The username can be anything and changed any time.
And if I lose my phone?
If you saved the 12-word seed phrase, you can restore the account on any device. If you didn't — no one can help: we deliberately don't have that capability.
Why does a messenger need a blockchain?
For one job only — publishing the list of live nodes. That can't be censored, revoked or lost. Messages are never written to the blockchain.
How much does it cost to use?
The messenger itself is free. Creating an account, conversations, voice and video calls, connecting to the node network — without a single coin in the wallet: none of that is written to the blockchain, no gas needed.
You'll only need ETH on the account in two cases:
- You send ETH or USDC via the built-in wallet — gas is needed for the transaction (on Base — fractions of a cent).
- You run your own server node — registering in the smart contract requires a 0.01 ETH stake (returned when you leave the network) plus ~$0.5/year on heartbeat transactions.
Receiving ETH or USDC works with a completely empty wallet — the sender pays the fee. So someone receiving money for the first time can spend it right away — no "top up first".
What about resistance to blocks?
Five transports: P2P → onion → QUIC → REALITY → direct TLS. The client tries them in order and caches the choice. REALITY is the most "invisible" layer — it disguises itself as a legitimate TLS handshake to large sites.
On top there's a volunteer VPN relay: users who already have a working VPN can flip a switch in the app and turn their device into a NORA TURN node. Their VPN tunnel becomes the "exit" to the open Internet, and other users — those without a VPN or whose VPN broke — get into the messenger through them. A live mutual-aid network: the more people enable the relay, the smaller the chance that blocks cut someone off.
The volunteer themselves see nothing but encrypted traffic — messages stay E2E, and their IP is exposed only to the NORA node, not to peers.
What about group chats, media, calls?
1:1 calls (voice/video) work via WebRTC + our TURN. Media and groups are on the roadmap and will arrive in the next releases.